1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



495 



endure the searching winds, and growing 

 poorer and weaker every day. 



If you want animals tough and hearty 

 through the winter, feed them well in Novem- 

 ber, and protect them from cold winds and 

 storms. It is one of the worst things that 

 can befall a young colt or calf to allow it to 

 deteriorate in condition just before winter sets 

 in. The period between grass and fodder is 

 the most trying one for young stock of the 

 entire year. 



Banking the House. — Nothing is better than 

 evergreen branches. Lay them a foot in 

 thickness about the underpinning. Tread 

 them down. The first snow that falls will be 

 likely to fill all the space among them. If 

 there is a fall in sufScient quantity, shovel it 

 over the branches two feet deep, and the cel- 

 lar will be kept from freezing and the whole 

 house be warmer for it. This course is not 

 half the labor that banking with earth is, and 

 not a tenth part so dirty. 



Look out for the Sheep. — Provide a warm 

 room for them to pass in and out of as they 

 please. Some farmers furnish a room with 

 such ample light and ventilation that they do 

 not allow them to go out at will. Sheep do 

 not bear confinement well. It is their nature 

 to roam. They do better in small flocks, as, 

 indeed, almost all other animals do. They 

 ought to have convenient racks to feed from, 

 and enough of them to prevent crowding each 

 other when feeding. Feed with roots occa- 

 sionally ; if a small quantity every day, so 

 much the better. 



Fattening Animals. — Do not delay this pro- 

 cess. Feed often, a little at a time. Keep 

 them warm and quiet. Keep the poultry clean 

 and the young cocks by themselves, &c. 



Bushes under Walls. — These are a nuisance 

 in cultivating and harvesting. Clean them 

 out, and do forty other things that demand 

 attention in November, and among which the 

 most important is to 



Provide for the Kitchen plenty of dry wood, 

 soft water, and every utensil which will make 

 the work light, and every heart in the house 

 cheerful. 



—The city idea of farming is strawberries im- 

 mersed in Alderney cream, and omelets from fresh 

 eggs, and dews glistening in the morning sun, and 

 waving clover tops, and that sort of thing. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ■WINTER MANAGEMENT OP STOCK. 

 An Essay read before the Concord Farmers' Club, by 

 Mr. Elijah Wood. 

 It is now the opinion of most people, that 

 no branch of farming compares in importance 

 with the keeping and management of stock, 

 especially in winter. The success of the far- 

 mer depends almost entirely upon it, in this 

 latitude. Our farms have become exhausted 

 of certain elements which must be restored by 

 keeping stock, or by purchasing manure ; and 

 the latter is certainly out of the question, as 

 experience has taught most of us. No good 

 farmer will sell his hay for a succession of 

 years, without buying its equivalent in some 

 form as a fertilizer. Therefore, stock must 

 be kept and managed so as to be a continual 

 source of income. Many faimers depend 

 solely upon their cows for support, selling very 

 little from the farm but their products. The 

 highest success depends on the care and atten- 

 tion they receive, and we all know that cows 

 cannot give much milk without they are sup- 

 plied liberally with good feed. 



It is bad policy to keep too much stock for 

 the amount of fodder on hand. One ton of 

 hay given to one cow will produce more milk 

 in a given time than if fed to two. The ma- 

 nure has more bulk and is better, because two 

 animals have to be supported from it in the 

 place of one ; the labor is only half as much, 

 and the capital is also reduced in the same 

 ratio. 



I have always found, while raising milk, 

 that November was the hardest month in the 

 year for that purpose, because it is "between 

 hay and grass ;" nights cold; days windy and 

 chilly; J' rass frost-bitten; corn-fodder dry, 

 and generally too much exposure of the cattle. 

 November should properly be called a winter 

 month in the milk business. Cows should be 

 fed extra well then, to make them continue 

 their flow of milk through the winter. 



There are certain rules to be followed in 

 order to succeed in any business, — so with suc- 

 cessful stock feeding. Barns must be warm 

 and well ventilated. It is not enough to close 

 up tight just about the cows, exposing them to 

 drafts of air when the leanto is opened for 

 feeding, but the whole barn should be of one 

 temperature, above freezing, with ventilators 

 that can be regulated at pleasure. Cows must 

 be well fed. They cannot do well on coarse 

 kinds of fodder, meadow hay, &c. , but mus-t be 

 given something fully as nutritious as the best 

 feed in summer. English hay is the basis. 

 Corn fodder, straw, meadow hay, cut and 

 mixed with the different varieties of grain, 

 according to their concentration and value, 

 roots, &c., pr'^pared in some way equivalent 

 to summer food. 



In my successful days of milk-raising — days 

 of which there is no reason to find fault, — I 

 studied to find out the most profitable way of 

 keeping milch cows with the material at hand, — 



